The military, who "took part in active hostilities in the Luhansk direction" should rest, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
“The units that took part in active hostilities and achieved success, victories in the Luhansk direction, certainly should rest, increase their combat capabilities, and other military formations, including the East grouping, the West grouping, must fulfill their tasks according to the previously approved plan, a single plan, and, I hope, that in their direction it will happen in the same way as it has happened in Luhansk so far, ”Putin said.
Previously, Putin has not publicly announced any rest or rotation of troops. As Major General of the Security Service of Ukraine, former deputy chairman of the SBU Viktor Yagun told The Insider, Ukraine will not allow Russian troops to rest, and the pause that Putin announced, calling it rest, will be evidence that the military is exhausted.
“The fact is that they suffered such huge losses that less than 30% remained in the units. It's another window dressing under orders. According to rough estimates, in this operation alone, they killed about five thousand people near Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, I'm not talking about equipment. Ukraine will not let you rest unambiguously.
We have a different tactic, we just do a rotation – some units leave, while others come. They don't have rotation opportunities due to the amount they use. They are already stretched all over the front. I think that if there is a pause now, then this clearly indicates that we have achieved what we wanted – we have exhausted the enemy in his desire to attack. This is approximately the same situation that the Germans had in October 1941 in front of Moscow – they seem to be advancing, but somehow uncertainly. I hope that at some point this will give us the opportunity to turn the tide.”
At the same time, according to British intelligence, after the capture of Lisichansk, Russian troops will now throw their forces into taking control of the Donetsk region, most of which remains under the control of Ukrainian forces.